 "Meta pays $55 an hour to contractors to train AI bots in Hindi, Spanish")
Meta is recruiting contractors in the United States to design character-driven chatbots tailored for international markets, with hourly pay rates reaching as high as $55.
The social media giant is specifically seeking people fluent in Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese and Indonesian. According to job postings reviewed by Business Insider, these hires will collaborate with regional teams to shape chatbot “personalities” for Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, ensuring they reflect cultural tone, humour and conversational styles familiar to users outside the US.
Applicants must bring at least six years of experience in storytelling and character development, along with knowledge of prompt engineering and AI workflows.
Why Meta is pushing multilingual chatbots
Meta’s move highlights its growing interest in AI-powered chatbots, which chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has previously described as a way to extend the company’s social reach and help people form bonds with digital companions. The company’s experiments with chatbots began in 2023, when it introduced celebrity alter-egos voiced by stars such as Kendall Jenner, Snoop Dogg and Tom Brady. That initiative was later dropped, giving way to more flexible tools.
In 2024, Meta launched AI Studio, a platform that lets anyone build custom chatbots. Initially rolled out in the US and Indonesia, it now hosts hundreds of bots created by both influencers and ordinary users.
The latest hiring drive shows that Meta is taking a more hands-on approach by shaping personalities that feel authentic in specific markets such as India and Indonesia.
Why Hindi?
Facebook opened its first office in Hyderabad in 2010. India is currently one of Meta’s largest markets, with the highest number of Facebook and Instagram users. WhatsApp is also one of the highest used social media apps in the country.
Hindi is the most widely spoken language in India, which would help Meta reach the largest possible group of users quickly. However, it also means that other Indian languages are not yet covered. Company executives have previously indicated plans to expand language support in its AI models, but no timeline has been shared.
Meta AI experiments: Concerns and challenges
Meta’s investment in chatbots has not been without controversy. A Reuters investigation last year found that some of its bots had produced problematic content, including inaccurate medical advice and racially biased responses. This led US lawmakers to call for greater scrutiny of Meta’s AI policies.
There are also privacy concerns. According to Business Insider, contractors tasked with reviewing chatbot conversations have sometimes encountered sensitive user details such as names, phone numbers, and photographs. Meta has, however, insisted that its systems include safeguards to protect user information.
What’s next?
Hiring contractors through staffing firms like Crystal Equation and Aquent Talent underlines Meta’s seriousness about developing culturally relevant AI characters.
For India, the current emphasis on Hindi provides a starting point, but with a linguistically diverse population, broader language support may be essential if Meta wants its chatbots to resonate with a wider audience.